


Is It Hot in Here?

by GutterBall



Series: Dragons and Princes and Promises, Oh My! [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Cussing, Dragon AU, M/M, an unbearably smug dragon!raleigh, this is all tumblr's fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 12:23:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14449215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GutterBall/pseuds/GutterBall
Summary: Raleigh, the dragon, has been contentedly napping away the decades, far from humans and their ridiculousness, when he is awakened by an angry, ginger human stomping into his lair and demanding to make a deal. Chuck is a prince tired of being forced into a life he never wanted. If Raleigh will swoop in and "kidnap" him, he'll do whatever the dragon wants in return.Intrigued, Raleigh asks for the one thing neither of them is sure they want: for Chuck to stay with him forever.





	Is It Hot in Here?

**Author's Note:**

> This is all Tumblr's fault. They made me do it. They PROMPTED me. Make them stop.

Raleigh had lived a good, long time. Not as long as some of the truly ancient ones, like the Pentecost, but he'd seen generations of humans come and go while he remained at the peak of his strength. He had destroyed human dwellings and he had built human cities and he had hoarded everything humans desired from gemstones to gold to literature to butterflies and had found none of it worth more than a moment's attention in his long, long span.

He expected that nothing humans could do would surprise him anymore. He knew them of old.

Frankly, he was bored with them.

Thus, he refused to allow his muzzle to curl when a lone, unarmored human marched into his craggy mountain lair -- it was one hell of a climb; how the hell had the human managed it? -- and started shouting.

_Shouting._

"Oi! I know you're here, ya big scaly fuck!"

Blinking -- it wasn't as if he was hiding, considering he was the size of a largish building -- Raleigh uncurled from a pile of his current obsession, pillows. He was bored with humans, but even he admitted they occasionally had good ideas. Pillows were definitely one of the better ones.

Lifting his head enough to stretch out his neck, which had been curled around his favorite, largest pillow during his long nap, he watched with no small amount of amusement as the brash, shouty human backed several steps and cursed.

It was an interestingly colored human, at least. Most of those Raleigh had seen before writing off the entire species as a capricious, bad lot had been either light or dark of hair and skin. This human was rather a mix of both, its hair somehow fiery, its skin white with rusty flecks, its eyes a rather pleasant shade of mossy green.

"Jesus Christ, why didn't anyone tell me you were so big?"

Snorting a curl of smoke, Raleigh lowered his head enough to peer at the strange human from a closer vantage. Definitely more vividly colored than expected. He peeled his lips back on one side, exposing his teeth in a hungry sneer. This had sent humans screaming into the night in the past, as several of his teeth were as big as the average human.

"Puny human."

Again, the creature stepped back, this time shielding its face. Still cursing, though. The little morsel had an impressive range of curses to draw from. And an oddly pleasing way of shaping the sounds. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Raleigh had long since become bored with the different ways the humans spoke to each other. He knew most of their versions of speech, but he hadn't bothered to speak any of them in years.

The human abruptly dug in its feet, dipping its head to cough and flapping its arms at him. "Jesus, mate, let up with the heat, yeah? I happen to know you lot like your meat raw."

Oops. Well, he hadn't considered how hot his breath would feel to a human's unarmored skin. Though the thought of this tiny creature daring to chide him as if demanding that he -- a dragon, one of the elders if not a full-on ancient -- show better manners was... oddly amusing. And because this human had amused him where others merely bored him, he decided to oblige.

Drawing back to a distance where his exhalations should be less furnace-like, he snorted again. "Puny human."

The little human brat rolled its eyes. "Yeah. You've said." It crossed its arms. "Reckon you wonder why I've come."

Shifting on his mass of hoarded pillows, Raleigh settled in and reined in his expectations. No human had ever approached him without wanting either a fight or a boon. They were a greedy lot in that way, and had the worst tendency to attempt to betray him in some way after he had obliged.

"Right." Striding forward again, the human scowled. "Need a favor."

Raleigh was surprised by the swell of disappointment. He thought he'd been ready for it, but... this shouty little creature had seemed so unusual at first.

But no. Humans were humans, no matter how vividly colored they may be.

Rolling his eyes, he started to turn away and curl back up for a nap, in hopes that he'd have forgotten the strange interlude when he awakened months, even years from now.

"Oi, wait! A favor, not a boon!"

Said as if there was a difference. Grumbling now, he huffed out a jet of smoke and continued curling around the pillows until he had them just about as he wanted them.

"Mate, please, I'll do whatever you want in return, yeah? I just need you to kidnap me."

He paused.

He didn't want to. He knew humans of old. He knew how they promised something in return but never delivered. How they came with open arms and smiling faces while hiding swords and spears behind their backs.

"Just for a while. I'll be no trouble. I can take care of myself. I just... need you to swoop down in sight of my old man, snatch me up, and fly me away, then let me squat here in your cave until everyone stops looking."

He was not considering this. He really wasn't. He also wasn't at all curious as to why this strange human wanted so badly to be "kidnapped" by a creature that it knew could remorselessly eat it raw.

So why had he twisted his neck around to glare at the annoying distraction from an otherwise pleasant nap?

"I swear. Whatever you want in return."

His eyes narrowed. "I want for nothing."

The human seemed to lose most of its shout and... slumped. The mossy green eyes widened with distress.

Raleigh's chest suddenly felt... strange. Tight. Uncomfortable.

Finally, after trying and discarding several attempts at pleading or bargaining that never made it past the creature's lips, the little human put out its hands, palms up.

"Please?"

Humans bored him. They truly did.

But this one... didn't.

His eyes narrowed further. "Why?"

Sighing, the human slumped further, bowing the fiery head. "He wants me to marry a princess."

Surprise, again. "Why?"

"Because I'm a prince, and I'm supposed to marry a princess and crank out sprogs to carry on the royal line."

The human was a prince. Which made "it" a "he" if he remembered correctly. Perhaps introductions should have been made at some point to clarify that, but... well.

"You don't like the princess?"

A flash of green and a huff, and the human crossed his arms. "Don't like sheilas."

Confused now, he felt his face crumple. "Sheilas?"

" _Girls_ , mate. I don't like girls. Prefer blokes."

Ah. And humans could only naturally breed with the opposite sex. Unless magic was involved. Or a wish.

None of which mattered, because Raleigh had no intention of engaging in any of this madness. Bad enough if he "kidnapped" a human. It would be all-out war if he "kidnapped" a prince. Of course, he could easily defeat any army raised against him -- if he had any true trouble, his brother would come to his aid, and they would lay waste to entire realms, if necessary -- but he had no urge to fight with the humans. They bored him. War bored him. Destruction bored him.

This human... didn't.

This human stirred something deep in his chest, as if his lungs were heating up for a blast of fire that would reduce the entire world to ashes.

"Please. It's not just the arranged marriage, yeah? I just... I fucking hate it. _All_ of it. I just want to get away. If they think you've taken me away and eaten me, they'll leave me alone. No sense looking for a dead man, yeah?"

"And when the old man you've spoken of raises an army against me in retaliation?"

"He won't." Another flash of green, this look a bit more lingering. "He'll marry her himself in hopes that she'll produce another heir, and the whole lot can move on without me. When I'm sure it's all over, I'll be right out of your hair. I swear on my mum's grave."

Raleigh doubted this. Humans tended to leap to war over the simplest of misunderstandings. If a king thought his heir had been killed, he would wage war against whoever had done the deed. Even a dragon.

It wasn't worth the hassle.

He wasn't doing this. No matter that he felt as if he were already breathing fire, his chest hot and aching and his heart beating slow and heavy to account for the strain.

His eyes narrowed. "On one condition."

Wait, what?

The vibrant head shot up, wide green eyes wide with... hope? The little creature certainly seemed to be a curl of the mouth away from smiling.

"If I rescue you from your kingdom, you must stay with me."

What in the everlasting hells of the deep was he saying?

But the human stepped forward, excited. "Deal."

No. No deal. This wasn't happening.

He narrowed his eyes, hardly daring to breathe for fear of the heat inside him breaking out of his control and roasting this irritating, interesting being alive. "You are not afraid I will eat you?"

Still excited but visibly tempering that strong emotion, the human grit its teeth together. "I'd take death here and now over living the rest of my life in a fucking lie."

This... would happen. He would "kidnap" this human and keep him here in his cave forever.

Because he finally recognized the feeling deep in his chest where he usually drew his fire.

Sympathy. Protectiveness.

Fascination.

Rumbling low in his chest, he twisted up from his pillows and focused his concentration down to a blade's edge. Muscle cramped, bones ached, skin tightened as if it would split apart. Every part of him screamed in a moment's agony, but almost as soon as it started, the pain stopped and he... shrank.

_Transformed._

Scales smoothed. Hair sprouted. Muscle and bone reformed, joints twisted to new configurations. His organs shifted, some settling into new places and others disappearing altogether.

When he finally opened his eyes -- blue, he knew, like his brother's and his mother's before him -- he stood at eye level with the fascinating human that had sought him out.

Those pretty green eyes were wide, the jaw dropped, the whole, surprisingly bulky human body pulled back from him.

Smirking a bit -- he'd always loved a dramatic show, though the other elders tended to snort smoke at his antics -- he stood nude and human-looking, pale of hair and skin and roped with fine muscle, lined here and there with scars from battles centuries past, before his... guest. Drawing on his remembrance of human etiquette, he put out his right hand.

"I accept your bargain, human."

Said human hesitated, gob-smacked and actually afraid for the first time. Raleigh waited. Eventually, the creature hesitantly took his hand and gave a solid two pumps.

The deal was struck.

"You... uh... got a name, mate?"

He kept his grip on the offered hand. "Raleigh."

"That's not a name."

His eyebrows rose. It felt strange. He hadn't walked in human form for at least a century, and it would take him quite some time to remember how each of his component parts felt and worked. The expression must have been more intimidating than he expected because the human straightened suddenly.

"Right. Uh... I'm Charles." The grip tightened, and the human scowled. "No, I'm not. Charles is dead." Rolling his broad shoulders, he took his hand back and stood tall and proud. "I'm Chuck."

Eyeing his new guest, Raleigh nodded slowly. "Chuck. I will remember." He crossed his arms. "When shall I kidnap you?"

"Straight away." The excitement came back. "Honestly, mate, the sooner the better."

"Indeed." Considering, he tapped his fingers on his upper arms, refusing to be distracted by the feel of skin instead of scales and the different range of motion. He'd get used to it soon enough. "If you go back now, I will come for you at sunrise. I have no intention of harming anyone, so if you could arrange to be apart from--"

"No offense, but...." The human paused, looking embarrassed to interrupt. Or... just embarrassed. The pale skin slowly turned red. "Uh... could you maybe put on some clothes?"

His eyes widened again, and he glanced down at himself. And frowned. "Why? Does this form not please you?"

Strange. It had always passed well enough before. Had human tastes changed so much? It hardly seemed likely.

But the red color deepened until the poor human looked scalded. "Rather the opposite problem, mate."

Raleigh stared, at a loss.

More red.

"You're a bit distracting, yeah?"

And yet, the human didn't seem capable of even looking at him below where his arms were crossed--

Oh.

_Oh._

A slow, wicked smile curved his mouth. The human -- Chuck -- had said he didn't like girls.

"I never dress at home."

A look of such desperation crossed the vivid face that Raleigh was tempted to laugh. His human was entertaining, at any rate. And if Chuck could be persuaded to lust after his human form, their bargain became that much more interesting.

"Mate, seriously. I'm not gonna hear a word you say whilst you're flashing your dick at me."

His smile didn't diminish in the least. If anything, it sank deeper into a smirk. "You'd rather I turned around?"

His brother might disagree, but Raleigh's human ass had been a thing of legend.

Chuck let out a cross between a groan and a whimper and actually covered his eyes with one hand, the other propping on his hip. "I'm gonna end up fucking a goddamn dragon. I can see it already."

Raleigh, because he liked the colors his human turned, leaned closer still. "You couldn't handle me as a dragon."

Chuck shuddered.

Raleigh smirked deeper still.

But the deal was struck.

Rumbling a low chuckle, Raleigh reached out one hand and twisted it in the fabric of his human's shirt to pull him in close. Close enough to feel the heat of that tall, strong body. Close enough to see the flecks of even more color in the mossy green of those vivid, wide eyes. Close enough that he could taste the slightly parted lips if he chose. And if his human consented.

"You will stay with me if I free you?"

The human's tongue flicked out to wet tempting lips. "I will."

He leaned in, closed his eyes, tilted his head. His human made no attempt to pull away. In fact, he leaned in as well until Raleigh could feel warm breath against his face.

Smirking, he opened his eyes without pulling away.

"Then get the hell out so I can come kidnap you."

Green eyes flared wide, and the human made the most annoyed, offended squawk of a sound Raleigh had ever heard. Laughing, he gently shoved Chuck away and... because he really was the brat his brother always called him, turned around and walked toward his pillow pile, making sure his human got the best possible view of his ass flexing with every step.

"You. Are. An utter. Shit."

Snorting, he lowered himself gracefully to the pile, arranging his new human limbs with more flexing and stretching than was strictly necessary.

"You can always go back to your princess and live happily ever after."

"Fuck that, mate." Chuck's voice was flatteringly strengthless. "That ass is mine."

Without another word, the human pivoted on his heel and marched out of the cave. Raleigh chuckled as he went, waited until he was well out of sight, then transformed back into his natural form, resettling himself on his pillow throne.

He didn't nap, though. No. The last thing he wanted to do right now was sleep.

He had a date at sunrise.

**THE END**


End file.
